“Guessing that’s why I got the I’m sorry for being an ass, but if you hurt her, I will kill you message from Moretti tonight?”
She looks at my phone and reads my fucking message, right in front of me. “Um, you left him on read.”
“It was an apology; you don’t follow up on apologies.”
Still scrolling on my phone, she shakes her head, “Your communication sucks.”
“I’m not running a Fortune 500 company, I’m texting, which is arguably the worst form of communication.”
“I won’t disagree, but it can be effective.”
“You’re wasting that time I gave you with my phone to undo whatever shit you did by reading my DM’s?”
“I’m learning how to speak Aleks so the next time I jack your phone they won’t call me into question.”
“You have plans to do that?”
She doesn’t look at me; she simply shrugs.
I push up off the couch, “Bathroom?”
She points, eyes still on my screen.
When I finish washing my hands and turn off the water, I hear a man’s voice.
“What is going on?” A man asks.
“I just need space right now.”
“If you want time off without things looking suspicious, we need to plan that.” He says with an authority that pisses me off.
“I don’t need time off, I’m handling everything. I’m in the office, I’m on and at meetings. I’m fixing everyone’s fuck ups.”
“I’m aware, but you are not allowed to—” fuck this, I think as I open the door and walk out.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
Both of them simply look at me. My natural instinct is to push this asshole out and shut the door in his face. Instead, I hold my hand out, “Aleks Kilovac.”
“Yeah, sorry, Matteo, this is Aleks, Aleks, this is Matteo.”
“Good to put a face to a name.” I pull my hand back when he doesn’t shake it and shove both into my pockets to stop myselffrom busting an old man’s face. A man who’s a good five inches shorter than me, but still tries to find a way to look down on me.
He looks me up and down, “You play hockey.”
I give him the same treatment, look his smug ass up and down, and answer, “I do, and you workforSofie and her father.”
His brow arches as he turns and looks at her, “This is why you need space?”
“I, I, —”
She stops when I step behind her, wrap my arm around her waist, and pull her back against my body. “Respecting boundaries.”
“Excuse me?” He scoffs.
“Hanging out here to watch the game instead of the tower. We’re respecting boundaries. Happy to give you a lesson on how that works if you’d like.”
“Aleks, it’s?—”
